Vol. 10, No. 10
March 1996
No Way to
Treat a Lady
...Page 10
He’s Outta
There
...Page 26
The Carolmae Moet Comprehensive Gay & Lesbian Newspaper
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The gospel accordian to Judy
by Jonathan Padget
Q-Notes Staff
Elvis is alive and well and when he gets
stuck at the airport, he calls Judy Tenuta for a
ride. I know this, because I was on the line
with Judy when he called. (Talk about a brush
with greatness!) So, in the course of an
interview with Judy Tenuta, I not only talked
one-on-one with the “greatest female come
dian who ever lived” — if you don’t believe
it, just ask her — I also got the dish on the
King. According to Judy, he doesn’t do much
these days other than get stuck at airports, and
not having word yet of the breakup of the
Jackson-Presley marriage, he was still dis
tressed about his daughter. “Judy,” he said—
while on the other line — “why did my Lisa
Marie take off and marry a black girl?” Go
figure.
For the “pigs” (Judy’s affectionate term
for her audience) who don’t know or haven’t
kept up, Judy Tenuta has been an offbeat,
accordian-wielding force in comedy
since she began touring in the early
80s. Her national exposure has
grown since her debut comedy
album. Buy this, Pigs, in 1987,
^_£6ik>wed by her J'irst HBO
special. Judy is also a fa
vorite performer at gay
pride festivals, where gay
and lesbian audiences
seem enamored with her
irreverent treatment of,
well, just about anyone
and anything. Judy’s sec
ond album. Attention
Butt Pirates and
Lesbyterians, was re
corded live at the 1993
Los Angeles Gay Pride
Festival and eamedher
first Grammy nomina
tion in the Comedy/-
Spoken Word cat
egory. Her third al
bum, In Goddess We
Trust, was released in
late 1995, got her sec
ond nomination. I had
questions for Judy
when I called her Cali
fornia home, but once
our conversation started, they became so ir
relevant upon realizing that one doesn’t really
ask Judy questions; one listens to Judy ex
pound on whatever topics cross her mind. But
that’s cool, I think. I liked what she had to say.
First off, Judy was intrigued that I was
writing for a gay newspaper in Charlotte. “I
didn’t know there were gay people in Char
lotte,” she pondered, “because isn’t Jesse
Helms from around there — that pig?” (Note
here the fine distinction between the plural
pigs, a term of endearment, and the singular
pig, which is not.) Technically, yes, I ex
plained, and offered a flimsy explanation of
Tar Heel voting habits as well as the cosmo
politan flair of the Queen City that allows gay
people to flourish. Judy seemed skeptical, but
satisfied enough to jump to the next pressing
matter in her life; Tlie Grammy Awards.
After losing last year’s award to the late
Sam Kinnison, Judy’s plan of action for this
year’s awards went something like this: “No
matter who wins. I’m going up
there. I mean — look at the
competition: Jonathan Winters
who hasn’t had an album since
the Boxer Rebellion; Martin
Lawrence; and Jeff
Foxworthy—you might be a
redneck if.... Nice. I was
thinking of changing the title
of my album to You Might
be aGoddess if... andselling
half a million copies.
And then there’s also
some other guy who
I’ve never heard of. I
think I can win.”
Judy is also con
cerned with another
awards-fest, the
Golden Globes, which
were broadcast just the day
before our interview. She
is amazed by Jane Seymour,
fondly described as “Dr.
Quinn, Medicine Slut.”
“This dykelet just had
twins two months ago
— who sucked her
belly out? They have
to give her an award
Continued on page 21
Gay-affirming Angiican church
takes root in North Caroiina
by Wynn Bone
Special to Q-Notes
GREENVILLE, NC-—The Reverend Tho
mas Farmer, minister of Good Shepherd An
glican Church in Greenville, NC, has recently
been appointed to head development of the
Evangelical Anglican Church in America
(EACA) in the eastern United States.
The EACA, a gay-affirming denomina
tion based in California and founded by Bishop
Craig Bettendorf in December 1994, has
grown from one to five congregations in less
than a year and a half. Of those five congrega
tions, the Greenville, NC congregation is the
only one located in the eastern United States.
The other four are located in California, Or
egon, New Mexico and Michigan.
“The reason why there are so few churches
at this point,” explains Farmer, “is because
whenever you are part of a liturgical church,
especially of the Anglican or Roman Catholic
traditions, you have to have priests and or
dained clergy before starting a parish—which
is the opposite from how it works with most
Protestant denominations. So right now the
EACA is focusing on clergy development —
recruiting clergy to go out and start parishes.”
Currently, the EACA has 42 clergy candi
dates nationwide. “And to have 42 clergy
candidates within a year,” asserts Farmer,
“that’s significant progress.”
Of the 42 clergy candidates, six live in
North Carolina. Those six are located in
Gastonia, Hickory, Greensboro, Durham and
Greenville. According to Farmer, their inter
ests range from parish-based ministry to hos
pital chaplaincy work.
Farmer’s parish in Greenville, which will
be celebrating its one year anniversary next
month, actually started as an unaffiliated Bible
study class in July 1994. In October of that
year, the group arranged for Associate Pastor
Wanda Floyd of St. John’s MCC in Raleigh to
Continued on page 21
NC Mobilization ’96 under way
by Eagle White
Q-Notes Staff
RALEIGH—Under the able guidance of
human rights advocate Mandy Carter, NC
Mobilization ’96 (MOBE 96) is up and run
ning in its quest to ensure that North Carolina’s
next US Senator will be responsive to the
needs and concerns of the gay and lesbian
community. Carter, recipient of a 1995 Stone
wall Award, for her outstanding work in the
area of LGBT rights, is optimistic about the
potential for MOBE 96, which picks up the
work started in the 1990 Senate campaign by
“NC Senate Vote ’90.”
“NC MOBE 96 will not simply be about
unseating Senator Helms,” says Carter.
“Maybe five years ago, the ‘ anyone but Helms’
idea would have flown, but that’s not where
we as a community are now, in 1996. We
must have a candidate to vote for, not simply
a vote against Helms.”
MOBE 96’s first “statewide” meeting, held
February 10 in Raleigh, drew more than 120
attendees, some from as far away as Asheville
and Wilmington. Carter was pleased with the
turnout, saying, “We had a good cross-sec
tional representation from North Carolina.”
The initial meeting addressed topics and ques
tions about how the group would proceed to
overcome the “built-in” support Helms en
joys from right-wing forces in North Carolina
and nationwide. After debating whether or
not to support a candidate in the primary
elections, MOBE 96 decided it would, indeed
support former Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt
in the May 7 primary.
MOBE 96 will be set up as a statewide
network of volunteers. The beginnings of a
“coordinating committee” are currently hold
ing weekly meetings in Durham to help ini
tiate approximately 25 subgroups of MOBE
96 to handle tasks such as phone banks,
fundraising for the group, and MOBE 96
merchandising efforts. The first MOBE 96
Triad regional meeting, held Wednesday,
February 21 in Greensboro, brought 20 people,
two of whom have tentatively agreed to spear
head MOBE 96 efforts in Guilford and Forsyth
counties. A meeting is currently being sched
uled in the Charlotte metro area for March (no
date at press time).
Success of NC Mobilization ’96 will de
pend upon North Carolina’s LGBT commu
nity giving of its time, talents and financial
resources. “There are many ways to become
active in this group,” says Carter, “and there
are plenty of volunteer spaces open for mem
bers of our community to make a great differ
ence in this cam
paign.” The next
statewide meet-
ingforMOBE96
has been sched
uled for May 11
in Raleigh. The
day will include
planning and
strategy sessions
followed by
some type of
Mandy Carter
evening “fun” activity.
Carter says she learned a great deal during
the 1990 Senate campaign, “As I began to do
this [MOBE 96], I said, ‘what were our les
sons from ‘90?’ I think one of the most
important and valuable lessons was that we
were very single-focused, and as we kept
going [in Senate Vote ‘90] we realized there
was something much bigger than getting rid
of Helms... what do we [the LGBT commu
nity] as a constituency, as a body of people
who are very visible and viable, want in the
long run?” Carter hopes the answer to this
question will eventually be to run more gay
and lesbian candidates for public office.
“When the ‘96 election is over, I hope many
of the people who worked with MOBE 96 will
stay active in politics and maintain visibility
of our community in party politics. We need
to take ourselves more seriously, and become
more of an institution within the state.”
To contact NC Mobilization ’96 by mail,
send correspondence toNC Mobilization ’96,
PO Box 28718, Raleigh, NC 27611-8718.
Phone (919) 828-3311, Fax (919) 828-0032,
e-mail ncmobe96@aol.com.
Clinton and Justice Dept, say
HIV ban is unconstitutional
by Dan Van Mourik
Q-Notes Staff
WASHINGTON, DC—As reported in the
last issue of Q-Notes, President Clinton was
expected to sign the National Defense Autho
rization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 (S. 1124),
and did so on February 10. People across the
nation were outraged because of a Republi
can-instituted provision which instructs the
Pentagon to discharge all service members
who test positive for HIV within six months.
In addition, such discharge would deny all
health care benefits to service members and
their dependents.
“GOP presidential candidate Bob Doman
[R-CA] and Senate Republican Whip Trent
Lott [R-MS] pushed this outrageous measure
through, despite the protests of more moder
ate members of their own party,” said Daniel
Zingale, Human Rights Campaign (HRC)
political director. “The blame for this ugly
amendment belongs squarely with them.”
“There is absolutely no reason to treat
people with HIV any differently from service
members with other chronic medical condi
tions, such as heart disease or diabetes,”
Zingale said. “This measure will remove
trained, experienced, healthy and productive
people from the armed forces. Even the
Pentagon has said it doesn’t want this provi
sion.”
A preemptive strike was launched against
the HFV measure in case Clinton signed the
bill. On Thursday, February 1, a bill to
overturn the HIV provision was introduced in
the House. As of mid-February, the repeal
bill has 74 cosponsors in the House and 35 in
the Senate. Clinton himself has taken a strong
stance against the measure.
“The president doesn’t believe it [the HIV
provision] should be in the defense authoriza
tion bill and will look for a way to try to take
it out prior to the effective date in June,” said
White House spokesman Mike McCurry.
In support of the repeal measure, NBA
basketball star Earvin “Magic” Johnson sent
an urgent request to Senate Majority Leader
Bob Dole [R-KS] and House Speaker Newt
Gingrich [R-GA].
When Gingrich was asked what he thought
about Johnson’s letter, he stated that Johnson
doesn’t understand “the nature of being in the
military and the danger of being in combat
Continued on page 21